South Africa’s apple- and pear-export industry is sounding the alarm over mounting losses caused by inefficiencies at the port of Cape Town, estimating that delays and logistical bottlenecks had cost the sector around R1 billion in 2024 alone.
Yesterday the Western Cape Department of Mobility met with Two-a-Day, one of South Africa’s leading apple- and pear-packing and marketing cooperatives, and its logistics partner Link Supply Chain Management, for a strategic discussion and site visit aimed at tackling the logistical challenges affecting the fruit-export industry. Industry role-players warned that without urgent intervention, including the fast-tracking of the port’s privatisation, the country risks losing hard-won market share in key global markets. “We work in a complex, time-sensitive value chain,” Roelf Pienaar, managing director of Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing, pointed out. “If a vessel to Europe, the United Kingdom or the Far East is missed the sale is gone. You don’t get a second chance to deliver on time in a programme-driven market. Logistics is the single biggest risk for us right now. If we can’t get our product out, everything else from on-farm innovation to market development is compromised.”
Chris Petzer, Two-a-Day’s operations director, explained that port delays often force the business to divert containers to Port Elizabeth at significant cost, simply to keep the supply chain moving and avoid halting harvest and packing operations. “It’s not sustainable, but sometimes it’s the only option to prevent greater losses,” he said.
While the port’s efficiency is improving, albeit quite gradually, Chris Knoetze, managing director of Link Supply Chain Management, a fourth-party logistics provider owned by several leading Western Cape fruit-exporting companies, including Two-a-Day and Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing, noted that although crane productivity had improved it was still throttling exports. A more effective port with higher productivity will attract more vessels and services, expand capacity and give more reliable shipping options to various export markets.
Said Knoetze: “Given several interventions, such as Transnet’s appointment and changes at senior-management level, the repair and maintenance of equipment, solving personnel matters, focusing on operational improvement and capital investment in new rubber-tyre gantry cranes (RTGs) in Cape Town Container Terminal, we should expect to see a steep change in productivity to at least 20 gross crane movements per hour (GCH) or more in the coming months. However, the process is still too slow and far removed from the 33 GCH reported by Transnet in November 2012.
“When port operations are disrupted, it impacts product quality, increases costs, and damages our credibility with overseas buyers.” He stressed inefficiencies had cost the apple and pear industry in the Western Cape an estimated R1 billion in 2024 through additional storage, trucking, and plug-in costs, as well as missed market opportunities when vessels bypass Cape Town. “We urgently need to fast-track the privatisation of the Cape Town terminal to restore competitiveness.”
The Department of Mobility confirmed that it is actively pursuing measures to address these constraints. Corrine Gallant, Deputy Director-General of the Western Cape Mobility Department, outlined existing initiatives, including the port of Cape Town’s Logistics Development Project Management Unit and plans to revitalise rail infrastructure. “We are working on both the landside and waterside inefficiencies,” Gallant said. “This includes improving road freight safety and capacity, restoring rail services such as the Overberg line and ensuring that the Western Cape’s needs are heard at a national level. We cannot afford more costs in the chain; our focus is on solutions that remove bottlenecks and protect jobs.”
Industry representatives stressed that time is critical. Delays in decision-making, they warned, could see global shipping lines bypass Cape Town in favour of more efficient ports, delaying fruit by one to two weeks and undermining the Western Cape’s competitiveness. “Farmers, pack houses and exporters are investing in efficiency every day,” Gerhard van Heerden, director of Link Supply Chain Management, said. “Now we need the same urgency and commitment at the port because without it the entire value chain is at risk.”
This was echoed by Isaac Sileku, Western Cape Minister of Mobility, who emphasised the need for urgency and structured collaboration with Transnet. “We cannot afford to be reactive,” he declared. “We must have formal agreements and mechanisms in place, so when bottlenecks arise we know exactly which buttons to press. Speed of execution is critical; our farmers and exporters cannot wait years for solutions.”
